Garden Bloggers Bloom Day-April 2016

Its Garden Bloggers Bloom Day on the 15th of the month so I am sharing  my flower garden with you today. I post a lot about growing food but I love flowers as well.  I have been laid up for a few days and was excited to see so much in bloom today. The weather is warming and fragrance is in the air. Above the Viburnum davidii is heavenly. The fragrance lingers as you enter our driveway.

The Azaleas are all in bloom. This one is a dwarf variety that grows to about 2′ high and as wide. Its covered in flowers. May is the usual month for Rhododendrons and Azaleas to bloom here but climate change has bumped it up by a couple of weeks.

I planted species tulips throughout the garden. I love the way they open up fully in the sun and close up at night. When this one closes orange striping adorns the outer side of the petals.

Tulip saxatilis ‘Lilac Wonder’ with its pink and yellow petals peeks out from the foliage of Centaurea montana.

As I walk under the rose arbor on the far side of the property Doronicum or Leopard’s Bane is in full bloom. I started with one plant along the driveway and now I have it everywhere. It’s so easy to divide and plant where needed. The pollinating insects love this flower.

I am pretty excited to see results from the wallflower I grew from seed last year. Most perennials don’t flower in the first year when grown from seed. They bloom in the second year so it’s a real sense of accomplishment when they flower.

Aubretia is doing better this year. It tends to look ragged in early spring but its worth the wait. Masses of bright purple flowers cover this plant. If I could only get the morning glory away from it, sigh.

Apricot coloured flowers have just opened on this Azalea. It went through some hard pruning to rejuvenate it a few years ago and its looking much fuller now.

We were discussing how weedy bluebells are the other day. I literally have thousands in the garden from the traditional blue to pink and whites. In this area they are lovely while in bloom. Later on I remove all the foliage and let the shade loving plants take the stage. Remember those fall leaves I left on the garden. They are still there. The garden is now so thick with plants, the leaves can’t be seen.

A few days ago we had a ten minute hail storm, just small hail stones mixed with cherry blossoms. It was like watching winter and spring at the same time, so weird. I am totally loving the lawn this week. Its pretty in pink.

Pink tulips and bluebells grace the front walk now and will be followed by Allium in a few weeks. Narcissus are finished and I have cut the flowering stems back. In a  few weeks the annuals will go out once the nights warm up.

The Rhododendrons are opening this week. This one has dark pink buds that open to a lighter pink. There are about forty Rhododendrons and Azaleas in the garden, maybe more. They are pretty easy care shrubs. I don’t fertilize the flower garden at all. Some of the gardens may get a top dressing of new soil once in a while but that’s it.

That’s about it for this week in the garden. I am busy focusing on the vegetable plants in the greenhouse and getting ready to harden the plants off. After all my plant sale is only two weeks away.   Today I am linking over at May Dreams Gardens with bloggers from all over the world.